MONROVIA – Bettomax-Liberia, a sports betting company, factually misled its followers by heaping an undeserved praise on Liberia head coach Mario Marinica.
Following Liberia’s 1-1 draw with Togo at the Stade de Kégué in Lomé on 6 September in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier, Bettomax put Mario in a coaching hall of fame.
This was posted on their Facebook page at 7:45PM Liberian time: “Romania manager Mario Marinica has become the first coach in the history of Lone Star to go unbeaten in his first five [competitive] games. He is also the first and only Lone Star coach to avoid defeat in five consecutive competitive games. Can he take the Lone Star to the 2025 AFCON?”
That post clearly distorted history and unduly praised a ‘fast and furious’ coach, who has run out of ideas as was evident by the humiliating 3-0 defeat to Algeria in a 2025 Afcon qualifier at the Samuel Kanyon Doe sports complex (SKD) in Paynesville on 10 September.
Coach Wilfred Tijani Lardner, Sr. (RIP), alias Green Banana, guided Liberia to its first Afcon finals in South Africa in 1996.
In so doing, Green Banana went seven competitive games unbeaten against quality oppositions like Togo, Mauritania, Senegal, Tunisia and Guinea Bissau (who withdrew after three matches) and not a Mario, who played Djibouti and São Tomé and Príncipe.
It began when George Weah scored in the 42nd minute in a 1-0 defeat over Togo at the SKD on 4 September 1994.
Banana’s second game was a 1-1 draw with Mauritania at the Stade Olympique in Nouakchott on 11 November 1994.
Alioune N’Diaye scored an own goal in the 28th minute and Brahim Ould Malha leveled in the 79th minute.
Game three was another 1-1 draw with Senegal at the SKD on 22 January 1995.
Jonathan ‘Boye Charles’ Sogbie, now a River Gee County senator, converted a 22 minute penalty but Souleymane Jean Sané leveled in the 83rd minute.
Liberia drew goalless with Tunisia in game four at the Stade Taïeb Mhiri in
Sfax on 10 February 1995.
It also finished goalless in game five against Togo at the Stade de Kégué on 9 April 1995.
Sogbie scored in the 64th minute as Liberia beat Tunisia 1-0 in game six at the SKD on 23 April 1995.
Miracle man James Salinsa Debbah scored in the 25th and 67th minutes as Liberia defeated Mauritania 2-0 at the SKD on 4 June 1995.
And qualification was already sealed when Senegal beat Liberia 3-0 at the Stade de l’Amitié in Dakar on 30 July 1995.
Mamadou Diallo scored a brace and Amara Traoré sealed an emphatic win in the 80th minute.
While we don’t have the records of coaches before Lardner, we can safely say Mario is certainly not the first coach to go unbeaten in his first five competitive matches.
Can he take the Lone Star to the 2025 Afcon?
As I said on the Okay Conversation with Julius Jeh on 12 September and 17 September, Liberia can’t and will not qualify under Mario.
Algeria exposed Mario’s ‘fast and furious tactics’ and his kneejerk reactions were spectacularly displayed during the match and at the post-match news conference.
Not even coach Hervé Renard was as respectful as Mario was against Algeria when he guided Zambia to the Afcon title against a star-studded Ivory Coast at the Stade d’Angondjé in Libreville, Gabon 8-7 on penalties after a goalless draw during regulation and extra time on 12 February 2012 and Saudi Arabia to a 2-1 win over a star-studded Argentina led by captain Lionel Messi at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar at the World Cup finals on 22 November 2022.
Renard used the strengths of his opponents to motivate his players, especially after the Zambian delegation visited the site where their compatriots crashed on their way to a World Cup qualifier against Senegal in April 1996.
But a thoughtless Mario bizarrely saw defeat long before the match began.
It was a tactical naivety and footballing incompetence and Mario and his team and Liberia Football Association (LFA) President Mustapha Raji should be thankful to God.
Dissatisfied supporters vented their frustration the last time Liberia lost 3-0 to Senegal in a 2006 World Cup qualifier at the SKD on 10 October 2004.
Then coach Kadala Kromah and LFA President Sombo Izetta Wesley (Cllr.) were on the receiving ends of their anger.
Only God knows what will happen when Liberia take on Equatorial Guinea in Malabo on 6 October and in Paynesville on 14 October.
This is the same Equatorial Guinea that beat Liberia 1-0 in a 2026 World Cup qualifier at the SKD in November 2022 before Fifa awarded the points to Liberia, having ruled that captain Emilio Nsue is ineligible to take part in their competitions because he hasn’t officially switched allegiance from Spain.
The dust will soon settle on another disastrous campaign under Raji, who’s the Jack of all trades but master of none at best and imposes to know everything at worst.
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